At chef Patrick Acuña's diner, patrons sit elbow-to-elbow on stools along the bright-red Formica bar. While the setup is familiar, the menu pushes the boundaries of diner food—serving fried chicken in a sushi roll.

Roll On Sushi Diner is doing its part to keep Austin, TX, weird and has won over locals since opening in 2011. It’s just one example of the evolution of the diner, which began as a prefab stainless-steel dining car (circa 1872 in Providence, RI) serving burgers and blue-plate specials and was immortalized by painter Edward Hopper as a late-night refuge. These days, the diner is going gourmet, as critically acclaimed chefs spice up classic American dishes with Asian, Mexican, and other artisanal flavors.

Owner and pit master Chad Harris takes a Slow Food approach at the Fremont Diner in Sonoma, sourcing ingredients from the farm, orchard, and chicken coop out back for comfort foods like shrimp and grits with house-made sausages. The reclaimed-wood bar, vintage metal stools, and screened-in porch make this an attractive place to polish off a slice of fried pie and a bottle of local wine—and that inviting nature is an enduring part of the diner’s DNA.

“A diner is a gathering place for regulars and strangers, where all are welcome,” says Richard Gutman, author of American Diner: Then & Now and curator of Rhode Island’s Johnson & Wales University Culinary Arts Museum. “You can go in shorts and a tee or in a tux after the prom. You also feel like you can talk to the person you’re rubbing elbows with at the counter, and that’s not only to ask her to pass the ketchup.”

That kind of anything-goes attitude, and 24/7 service, draws folks out of bars and into the leather booths of the Bowery Diner on New York’s Lower East Side. The signature burger comes with pastrami that’s brined and smoked in house. Purists will balk at some of these fancy touches and the higher-than-Denny’s prices. But a round of the Bowery Diner’s habit-forming milk shakes—in creative flavors like cheesecake and lemon meringue, spiked, and topped with cream—should brighten the mood.

All quibbling aside, everyone loves a good diner, whether greasy spoon or gourmet. Here are our picks for the coolest old-meets-new diners.

1 of 9Sean Fraser/ Linster Creative

Skillet Diner, Seattle

CIA-schooled chef Josh Henderson, of Seattle’s Skillet Street Food Airstream trailers, recently launched this brick-and-mortar restaurant with swivel counter stools and green vinyl booths. While the chalkboard specials change daily, you can count on an order of cornmeal waffles with maple-braised pork belly and fried eggs any day or night.

Don’t Miss: Henderson’s Skillet Cookbook: A Street Food Manifesto (Sasquatch Books) and a jar of his beloved bacon jam on the way out.

Bowery Diner, New York City

Chef Mathieu Palombino—mastermind of the city’s gourmet Motorino pizzerias—has launched this haute-retro version on the Lower East Side, next door to the New Museum. It’s open 24/7, in true diner style, and draws a late-night crowd spilling out of local bars and into the burgundy leather booths surrounded by mirrored stainless-steel walls. The varied menu leans nostalgic with dishes like Reuben sandwiches, twice-baked mac ‘n’ cheese, and a double-patty burger with béarnaise sauce.

Au Cheval, Chicago

You might call Au Cheval a “finer diner,” given its tufted leather booths, milk-glass pendant lighting fixtures, long zinc bar, and root beer (plus craft brews) on tap. Since it opened in the up-and-coming West Loop district in February 2012, chef Brendan Sodikoff has been dishing out a global mishmash of comfort foods. To wit: his General Tso’s chicken is honey-fried with sesame, chile, and cilantro, while an entire menu section is devoted to dishes with eggs, such as crispy frites with garlic aioli and Mornay sauce and Mexican-style chilaquiles, available only after midnight. After all, the restaurant’s name comes from the culinary slang for adding a fried one (literally, “on horseback”).

Dock & Roll Diner, Austin, TX

Three twentysomethings brought the diner back to its mobile roots in Summer 2011 with the opening of this retrofitted 1957 Airstream Flying Cloud “food trailer.” They dish out globally inspired sandwiches—lobster rolls, banh mi, po’ boys—with “Po-taters” and other old-school sides out of a lot in South Austin. Expect picnic benches in lieu of counter service; the trailer is only 19 feet long. They plan to open a second location in the suburb of Lakeway in late 2012, compete with a few seats inside.

Fremont Diner, Sonoma, CA

With its reclaimed-wood bar, vintage metal stools, and screened-in wraparound porch, The Fremont (open only for breakfast and lunch) adds retro style to the diner concept. Owner and pit master Chad Harris takes a Slow Food approach, sourcing ingredients from local farms—including the one out back—for southern-inspired fare like shrimp and grits with house-made sausages and poached eggs, or smoked Marin County whole-hog sandwiches.

Don’t Miss: A piece of fried pie and a glass of white from the surrounding vineyards.

Café de La Esquina at Wythe Diner, Brooklyn, NY

The team behind SoHo’s La Esquina—the cult-favorite taqueria and underground tequila bar in an old corner deli—launched its latest hot spot within a formerly defunct Williamsburg diner. Original vinyl-topped bar stools and leather banquettes date back to the 1950s, while the upscale Mexican street food (like scallops with coconut horchata and fried almonds, or Mexican truffle quesadillas with Oaxacan queso and roasted corn) bring the setting up to date.

Don’t Miss: Tacos, tortas, and house-made cocktails like the blood-orange margarita in the outdoor garden.

Roll On Sushi Diner, Austin, TX

This diner-slash-sushi-joint, from brothers Chip and Chad Reed, is all about “counter culture.” Grab a stool at the bright-red Formica bar that wraps around the central kitchen, where you can witness chef Patrick Acuña busy at work. The menu does its part to Keep Austin Weird with the likes of a chicken fried steak Cholesta Roll. Traditionalists, fear not—there’s also a list of American-style favorites, California rolls and house-made ramen among them.

Hopscotch, Oakland, CA

New to Oakland’s burgeoning Uptown District, Hopscotch reinterprets classic American dishes using East Bay ingredients and a Japanese touch courtesy of chef and co-owner Kyle Itani (of Yoshi’s in San Francisco and New York’s The Meatball Shop). On the menu: a braised pork belly hash with slow-cooked onsen eggs and a yuzu meringue pie to be washed down with local beers, wines, and small-batch spirits. As for the interiors, between the Midcentury Modern Carrara marble bar and the checkerboard cork floors, you’ll feel like you’re eating in a diner circa 1950.

M. Wells Dinette, Queens, NY

When chef Hugue Dufour (of Montreal’s famed Au Pied de Cochon) and his wife, Sarah Obraitis, opened M. Wells in July 2010, they turned a forgotten 1950s dining car into a veritable pilgrimage for foodies—until lease issues forced its close. The diner reopens in late summer 2012 as a cafeteria-style “dinette” with metal trays and bento boxes inside MoMA PS1. The rotating menu is as diverse as the original, featuring everything from oatmeal with foie gras to spaghetti and meatballs served in a can, and all concocted in the open kitchen, framed by cabinets of curiosities from the former diner and beyond.